HMV To Sell Famous Oxford Street Store

Administrators for the entertainment store will consider offers of between £6m – £9m this Friday to take on the lease of the building at 130 Oxford Street, London.

Fashion chains H&M, Inditex, the owner of Zara, Japan's Uniqlo and JD Sports are among frontrunners for the 50,000 sq ft site, said to be Europe's largest music shop.

Hilco, the restructuring specialist, is considering whether it can hold on to the site as part of its plan to run a downsized HMV. The flagship music store was said to have made annual profits of about £1.3m.

It is a destination store for music fans and bands, who line up to play at its in-store stage. Property sources believe HMV's administrators or Hilco will sell the site quickly because of its high value.

Although the administrators, Deloitte, are officially in charge of the process, Hilco holds the reins having bought up the majority of HMV's debts last month.

It is expected to take on about half of HMV's current portfolio of 230 stores, although it is rumoured to be considering an option to cut the chain to less than 60 outlets.

This article was written by Sarah Butler, for The Guardian on Wednesday 6th February 2013 18.13 Europe/London

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